The Archive Vol. 6, No. 1 (2025)

Use of Speech and Gestrures in Pretend Plays: The Case of Three-year-olds

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the use of speech and gestures of toddlers by observing the language functions and gesture use of three-year-old children when engaged in social pretend plays with their play partners. As observed, results have shown that both information and exploratory functions were used by the toddlers more than the persuasion function. Toddlers were proactive in using representational and deictic gestures to complement their spoken language as they fulfilled their assigned roles in the pretend plays facilitated by the researchers. Evidence pertaining to the relationship between pretend play and language development were presented, with the conclusion being drawn that engagement to pretend play activities provides them an avenue to highlight a repertoire of their communicative functions and gestures and project a sense of creativity and imagination as they mentally transform objects from their real counterparts, create their dialogues, and role play characters that are constructed without reference to their present context. The findings of the current study underpin previous works in the literature which suggest that combinations of gestures and speech play a significant role in child language acquisition.

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